Is this the beginning of the end for Fernando Torres at Chelsea?

Am I done? Fernando Torres could be nearing the end of his Chelsea nightmare (Picture: Reuters)

Boos rang out around Stamford Bridge during the 81st minute of Chelsea’s Capital One Cup semi-final first leg as Fernando Torres trudged off after yet another lacklustre display, and it seems as though many fans have lost patience after backing the under-fire forward for two years. Is this the beginning of the end of his time in West London?

Torres had a torrid time against Swansea and former Chelsea man Dennis Wise, who was covering the game on TV for Sky Sports, remarked that new boy Demba Ba did more in the 10 minutes he was on the pitch than Torres had done all evening. It’s not as if it’s the first time the supporters have seen this sort of display from him, so why have they waited until now to make their feelings known?

Up until last week Chelsea did not really have an alternative to Torres

Normally, when a player makes his 100th appearance for a club it is something to savour and celebrate – only on this occasion it just reminded Chelsea fans how long they have waited to get a return on the £50million the club paid for Torres as well as all the faith the supporters have invested in him since his arrival from Liverpool. After 100 games he’s scored 26 goals in total and since he made his debut for Chelsea the likes of Yakubu, Peter Odemwingie, Jonathan Walters and Peter Crouch have scored more Premier League goals than his 14.

Up until last week Chelsea did not really have an alternative to Torres. Daniel Sturridge spent a lot of the current campaign injured and clearly wasn’t rated by the staff, as he’s hardly featured since Roberto Di Matteo succeeded Andre Villas-Boas in March last year. Then Ba arrived, scored a brace on his debut and the supporters sense they may have a striker they can believe in. After watching another Torres no-show in a cup semi-final for over 80 minutes, and seeing their calls for Ba falling on deaf ears, frustrations eventually boiled over. It was clear a change should have been made much earlier.

There has been a plethora of excuses made for Torres, including the fact that we don’t create chances for him or didn’t give him enough opportunities to prove himself while Didier Drogba was still at the club. But Chelsea made him the main man (the only man) when Drogba left for China, the club spent a fortune on some of the best creative talent money could buy and even brought in a manager who had enjoyed a successful relationship with the former Liverpool man in the past – the improvement has been minimal, at best.

At 28 years old Torres should be enjoying his prime years but nothing seems to go right for him at Chelsea. Is it time for the club to start thinking about moving him on?

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